Rise of the Devourer

Book 3: Chapter 7 — A New Party

Kaelan leaned over, his reptilian eyes focused on Noah. Wyrmblood is it? No, theres more. I like it.

The dragon warrior extended his hand. Im Kaelan, leader of the Drakanthorn Vanguard. And these two are my party members, Valeria and Seraphina.

Noah took the chance to identify both of them.

[Ominrune Scholar - ??]

[Warbound Valkyrie - ??]

Noah grasped the Drakonians hand, shaking it. Im Noah Brown. These are my friends, Aurelia, Erwest, Snow, and Zax. We are heading to the Dragon Warriors trials as well, and I overheard you guys talking. From the looks of it, it seems like you have already completed a trial before. Although I didnt know Dragon Warrior was a Path.

Yep, Ive completed it. A couple of years ago, actually. Wouldnt have been allowed to leave my home without that. I know its not a path, I am a Spearmaster. But for titles, you can equip them, or keep them active, and thats the one that people will see.

Noah raised an eyebrow. That was something he needed to check. Now that I think about it, I never actually saw what Titan Slayer did.

Kaelans gaze drifted behind Noah. You said youre heading to the Dragon Warrior trials?

We are, Aurelia said. If its not against any rules, we would definitely love to know a little more.

Kaelan frowned. None of you are strong enough, though. The girl is definitely too weak, and one of you has no need for a title like that, he said, his eyes lingering on Zax. I like you. Youre strong. Maybe as strong as our King. I would ask you to spar, but Im afraid it wouldnt last for more than a few seconds.

Zax nodded his head. Perhaps in a few decades, child, he said with a smile.

Kaelan laughed. If anyone else had said that, I would have taken it as an insult. But yes, perhaps in a few decades. The Drakonian shifted his gaze back to Noah. You guys should reconsider. They wont stop you from competing, so the younger kids certainly join to train, but you wont make it, and outsiders can only compete once. I recommend training for at least a year. Your party looks young; if you train hard, all of you can still make it for next year.

Im afraid we cannot really wait, Aurelia replied.

Youre an Outerworlder, one of themSeraphina, if Noah remembered correctlyexclaimed all of a sudden. The woman rushed closer, grabbing onto Noahs hand and staring at his hands, examining each of his fingers one by one.

Noah almost teleported away, taken aback by the sudden intrusion.

I kept getting a weird readout from you; it makes sense now! Your body is amazing. Were you born with it? Or did it become like that when you came here? Ive done a study on Outerworlders at school and how their travels across the astral rifts changed their bodies and souls permanently. I have never quite seen such a vivid manifestation of change like this.

The womans eyes then went to Snow. No way! Is that a void

Before Noah could feel any further weirded out, and jump onto Snow, Kaelan grabbed her head with his hand.

Ouch, ouch, ouch, stop it! Seraphina exclaimed.

No, you stop that, Seph. We have talked about this. You cannot just start fawning over people whenever you see some kind of magic that interests you, Kaelan said, dragging back the woman.

Noah laughed. Its fine, and to answer your question, no, I wasnt born like this. In fact, my world had no magic at all. I got these after I got here, quite recently in fact.

As Kaelan let go of the woman, she composed herself. Wait, hold on. Didn't have any magic? How did you get anything done?

Thats such a magical-world person comment. There are other ways to do things. And we developed technology, Noah replied, shrugging.

That sounds terrible.

Seph, dont be rude, Valeria said.

Noah grinned. It was. A little bit. But we had movies, and we went to the moon, so it wasnt all that bad either.

What are movies? Seraphina asked.

Theyre like plays, except you can do a lot of things with them that arent real, with computers. If only I could show them to you, I think you would love The Matrix. Kaelan would probably really like The Karate Kid.

Huh, I didnt get much of that sentence. I guess youre using some kind of translation device, Seraphina said.

Kaelan coughed into his hand. Sorry about her. She is normally the reasonable one, but whenever kinds of magic are the topic, her personality flips. Anyways, if you guys really cannot wait well, you could try hyper-leveling. Just hunting in the forest would be sufficient challenge at your level, which would rapidly help you grow. Although it still might be a bit too unreasonable for Noah.

Yeah. Kaelan has been training us nonstop for the last six months. And he says that we are still not good enough, Seraphina said, mimicking Kaelans expression.

He says you are not good enough, Valeria said. He thinks I can make it.

Whatever, you know thats only because youre a battle junkie like him. Im a scholar! My first and foremost job is to learn and gather knowledge, not train day in and day out, Seraphina said.

Why would you take the trial if youre a scholar? Aurelia asked.

Oh, thats because I want to study the dragons heart. But they only let their victors see it, so I need to win, Seraphina replied, as if the statement was matter-of-fact.

If this is not an intrusion to your plans, perhaps your party can train with these three. From what we can see, Seraphina has a good understanding of various elements and magic, which would make for a good pair against Aurelia. And Aurelia can help Seraphina learn how to battle with someone who has powerful berserker abilities, can hit above their weight for short periods of time, Zax said, as the two women looked at each other.

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Valeria seems to have more berserker abilities and is also a paladin of Rutha, which would make a good training partner for Erwest to hone his technique against a more unpredictable warrior, while Erwest can challenge her with his technique and more diverse abilities, the dragon added, before looking at Kaelan lastly. And lastly Im afraid Noah cannot teach you much. But you can teach him how to use his spear better.

Kaelan thought it over. Sure, if the girls are fine with it. It would be good practice for these two and some entertainment for me. Its been some time since I've had a chance to fight someone who also uses a spear.

The Drakonian looked at Noah, grinning to himself. The smile reminded him of Raesar; he could see the two of them immediately bonding over their shared love for sparring.

Maybe its a cultural thing. The dragons and lizard people being battle maniacs.

Im kind of hungry, can we do this tomorrow? Seraphina said, holding her stomach as it growled.

Kaelan, you have to clean the deck as well. Dont push the captain any further than you already have, Valeria added.

Whoops, right. Guess we can start the training from tomorrow then. We can meet in the training halls at first dawn, Kaelan said.

Sounds good, Noah replied.

As the two groups were about to disperse, Kaelan turned back. Actually, I never got the name of your party. What are you guys called?

Noah looked at Aurelia, who similarly looked back at him. He shrugged. Were still working on that one.

***

Noah sat in his room, going through his astral script, as he looked at the current title he had.

[Progenitor]

You are the progenitor of an entirely new race of astral creatures. Find your abilities permanently increased.

Active: All attributes have increased by 5%

As it turned out, he did have title equipped, and that doing so gave certain additional abilities that were in the active category. Taking his remaining free attribute points, Noah put them into his attributes before checking the final number. numbers, as he turned of progenitor.

Power: 645 [806]

Agility: 552 [690]

Constitution: 577 [807]

Mystic: 633 [928]

Noah looked at the numbers, before unequipping Progenitor.

Power: [806 774]

Agility: [690 662]

Constitution: [807 778]

Mystic: [928 895]

Wow, thats a significant drop. The buffs sure add up.

Noah went to his Titan Slayer title next, opening it up.

[Titan Slayer]

You have slayed a titan, leaving the mark of its battle upon your soul. Find your spirit unwavering against stronger foes, and your aura unsupressed.

Active: Gain 50% more experience when fighting against stronger enemies.

Noah whistled at the as a reward, but it was the active one that made him grin. That was exactly what he needed right now. That much further thought, Noah activated Titan slayer, adjusting his astral script to better reflect its active nature.

Astral Script:

Name: Noah Brown

Race: Draconian Humanoid

Rank: D

Title: [Titan Slayer]

Paths:

Wyrmblood Guardian (Legendary) - level 107

Runebody Arcanist (Legendary) - level 106

Abyssal Predator (Legendary) - level 109

Attributes:

Power: 645 [774]

Agility: 552 [662]

Constitution: 577 [778]

Mystic: 633 [895]

Attribute points: 0

Skill Points: 1

Noah grinned, looking at this status. He was looking to the sparring matches tomorrow. A click came from the door, and Noah saw Zax step into the room. Wed been looking for you.

And you didnt immediately find me? Somehow I doubt that, Noah replied.

Well, we never said we were looking for long, Zax replied, taking a seat in one of the chairs within their room. Which, thankfully, was quite spacious, and Noah could always jump into his Cosmic Vault anyway.

Theres something we wanted to discuss alone with you, Zax said.

Sounds serious, what is it?

Its regarding your aspect, and the Shards. We would like to talk a bit more if possible.

Noah stopped slouching, the dragons words catching his attention. He thought over it for a second, before deciding there was no point trying to hide things from Zax. If there was anyone who can help him, it was Zax.

Sure, what do you want to know?

How did you get the Shard Noah, and from where?

No clue. Also, and I know this is pointless, but I hope youve made this space private? Noah asked.

We have, no one can enter here, or hear anything we say, Zax replied.

Alright. Sweet. Well, I woke up in the void and the void god asked me for the Shard. I felt extremely disconnected from reality and so instead of being afraid like I would normally, I just got pissed off and told him to fuck off, and eventually managed to form a pact that got me here. I know that the old goddess of war Raelinah was involved somehow, and I remember seeing her when Id died. But everything else is a blur, Noah replied.

Zax frowned, going silent for a long minute, just thinking.

Can we see your Aspect? Zax asked at last.

Sure, I needed to check on it anyway. It upgraded since I got the last Shard, Noah said, pulling up his menu as the description for Devourer appeared.

[Devourer (Intermediate, Unique/Growth)]

[Progress to next rank: 0/250]

You are the Devourer. A primal hungerlurks within you. You yearn to grow, to fight, to consume all that bar your path. Your spirit I hungry, and seeks strength. Gain increased experience than normal when fighting stronger enemies, but gain decreased experience when fighting weaker foes. All your abilities are enhanced to their maximum potential. You can absorb the essence of others and Consume them for yourself. Increases all Attributes by 10%.

Noah took the aspects message and shared it with Zax, who frowned. Magic circles swirled around the dragon as he read through the message, his eyes going over it multiple times, before at last, he looked back up at Noah.

Do you know what an Aspect is, Noah? Zax asked.

Only kind of. I talked to Hellion and realised that a gods aspect does a lot of things that they dont directly handle. So something along those lines?

Zax gave a nod. You are correct. But what you dont understand is that Aspects only exist with Ascendants. And Gods. And you are neither. And this Aspect. It is not yours either. You will have an entirely different aspect for yourself, Zax said.

Umm. Okay? What does that mean? That I get to have two? Noah asked.

We dont know. Weve never seen this before. But currently it seems like youre acting like a vessel to this dead gods shard. And Devourer is slowly assimilating into your soul. Your astral script tells you something, but it is not the truth, the script cannot ever glimpse the truth because Aspects are beyond its capacities, Zax said.

That honestly I dont know what to make of that. What happens if I collect all the shards? Noah asked.

If you truly as a vessel. Then either you become the next god of this Aspect or, the more likely option, this gods spirit and Aspect take over you and use you as a vessel to be reborn, Zax said.

That does not sound very good for me.

It is not.

So the cultists theyre gathering the shards to what? Revive the god? The devourer? Noah asked.

It is most likely. Or perhaps they merely intend to use its powers, not understand the forces they are playing with, Zax said.

So what should I do now? Give up on the shards? Stop absorbing them?

No. Its a little late to stop now. But perhaps it was some really good fortune that you got the abilities you did, and found a shadow spectre that shares your soul, Zax said.

Wait do you mean

We cant be sure. Well need to study more. Perhaps there will be some more books in Drakonias. But it is a possibility, Zax replied. For now, forget about these concerns and simply focus on training as best as you can for your upcoming trials. In the meantime, we will look for a solution.

Noah nodded, as Zax stood up from his chair. We have faith in you Noah, the dragon said at last.

Thanks, Noah replied, as Zax teleported away in a flash of light.